Where to begin? Well I remember the other girls in my grade being jealous of her when she was in grade 5. Know why? The boy NOTICED she was more developed than we were (myself included). Pretty sure I told Natasha this, I was in the jealous group, never picked on her, but never spoke to her either until she was seated next to me in class.
I remember SHE actually broke the ice. We spoke in class but never really chummy, until she gave me a shout one day. We sat on the phone for an hour, easy. After that there was NO separating us, and if we WERE separated we were sitting on the phone. As a matter of fact, I remember the day that she had her top pulled up. I wasn’t there. My dad had a rule about coming home RIGHT after school, and she would have been far easier to corner. I got a call, her, obviously crying, you would be too. There WAS more to that story with that girl. We were crazy cheesey kids, and decided to have 5 of us dress up like the Spice Girls and do a routine in front of the school at an assembly the NEXT DAY. The girl who actually did it, if I recall correctly, was supposed to be in that dance with us. Natasha DID try and tough it out but was so upset about the situation she made herself sick, and ended up going home, and we grabbed our backup person. The dance sounds like it wasn’t a BIG deal, but I remember Natasha practicing, A LOT and it meant something to her, the fact she didn’t end up being in it DID bother her.
I remember her taking the blame for things she DIDN’T do, and not understanding why. It all came together in my head after reading her piece she wrote for me, it was what she was putting up with behind closed doors. When that came out, it came out HARDCORE. I remember my dad asking me about it, because I’d had sleepovers at her house. I knew NOTHING about it, and this was going on BEFORE she became friends with me. I remember feeling guilty. INSANELY guilty. Natasha told me EVERYTHING, but she never told me that. I felt like I let her down, that I could have done something. Maybe if I’d known, I could have, but I NEVER saw things that were red flags to me until now. Looking back I remember her not wanting him around, when we were at her house we’d go to her room and shut the door, and if he came in she’d be CRAZY upset. When we were somewhere with him she’d try and get away from him. EVEN at one of her Birthday’s she had a dance and he operated the music, I’m not sure I remember her at the table with us all trying to place requests. I see them now, but I felt I dropped the ball as her friend on a few occasions, but that was the big one.
Today Natasha is an INCREDIBLE woman. She’s still the same girl I met, always smiling and open to making new friends. They never took that from her. They didn’t break her, WHO she is, never changed, and it’s incredible that it didn’t. She DEFIANTLY grew a backbone, but she never became bitter or angry. She stayed happy, and positive. Natasha has ALWAYS been, and remains to this day an UNBELIEVABLE friend, and what’s more is it’s not hard to get that friendship with her.
Thanks again to Nate for designing the Logo. Remember the blog goes as long as I have material. If you have something to contribute you can fb me OR e-mail me nancy.wood@mbsradio.com . Watch for an upcoming edition that will feature more of a study into bullying. Absolutely fascinating, and may be a mini series in itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment